It was the only polite way he could think of referring to the white lashings of his mettle on her thigh. His gaze dipped to the evidence of what they had done, and his cock twitched. He didn’t think he’d ever seen a more erotic sight than his mark upon her creamy skin. It made him want her again, even if his rational mind knew that could not happen.
“Very well,” she allowed, her voice husky.
He took the damp cloth and wiped his seed from her, almost hating to remove it. A possessive surge took hold in him. This lovely, brazen, unique woman so unlike any he had ever known was his now.
All he had to do was offer for her.
But would she accept?
Lion wanted to ask her. All he had to do was summon the proper means of doing so. Hovering over her, naked and bearing a cloth coated in his mettle, after he had just taken her maidenhead outside the bonds of matrimony, was hardly good form.
He finished his task, painfully aware of her proximity, her nudity, her gaze on him. She was lying there, her glorious bodygilded by the lamplight, making no effort to shield herself, and he was the world’s greatest oaf, because all he could think about was joining her on the bed and making love to her a second time.
“There we are,” he said, his voice thick.
“Thank you.” Her voice was a husky murmur, reminding him of the sounds she had made when she had come undone.
Clearing his throat, he turned away from the tantalizing sight she presented and returned the cloth to the washstand. “You needn’t thank me. Given my conduct, it’s hardly warranted.”
“But I liked your conduct.”
He closed his eyes and bowed his head, willing his thickening cock to go limp. He must not give in to temptation a second time.
Lion swallowed. He was no longer a randy lad, ready for bed sport to begin anew a few minutes after he’d reached completion. And yet, there was no denying the rekindling desire burning hot within him. He was dangerously near to making love to Addy a second time. And that wouldn’t do. He needed to get the both of them dressed and see her back to her room.
“We should dress,” he forced out, cursing himself for the coldness in his voice.
He hadn’t intended to be so curt with her.
“Of course,” she said, her voice sounding suddenly small. “I suppose you’ll want your bed back now, and I should return to my room so that no one else discovers our sordid little secret.”
He was going about this all wrong. Lion winced as he spun back to find her hastening from his bed.
“You are not my sordid little secret,” he denied, even as he realized that was precisely how she believed he was treating her.
But damnation, what was he meant to do? He was attempting to preserve her reputation and go about this the right way. He wasn’t in the business of despoiling virgins. He hadn’t an inkling of what to do in the aftermath.
As he wrestled with himself, Addy found her nightgown and drew it over her head. He mourned the loss of her silken curves, all sweet cream and palest pink. And then he recalled that he needed to don his dressing gown. Angling his body away from hers so that she wouldn’t spy his rapidly hardening cock, he stalked across the faded Axminster and seized his discarded dressing gown, drawing it on. His fingers fumbled over buttons.
“You needn’t deny it,” Addy was saying. “You won’t hurt my feelings. I’ve always known you disapprove of me, and coming to your room tonight was reckless and rash. I’m sure it didn’t help your poor opinion. You hardly want your faultless reputation besmirched because of me.”
He faltered on the fastenings of his robe. What must she think of him? That he would bed her while disdaining her?
“I don’t have a poor opinion of you, Addy,” he told her. “And I don’t give a damn about my reputation.”
“Ha! Don’t lie to me, please. I may be many things, but I’m no fool.” She stuffed her arms into the sleeves of her dressing gown. “I came to you because I wanted to experience what it’s like between a man and a woman, and now I have. I thank you for the lesson. It proved quite…insightful.”
“Addy,” he protested, realizing he had done up his buttons all wrong. “I’m not lying to you.”
Blast. He couldn’t go about the halls indishabille. If a servant were to come upon them or, God forbid, the elder Miss Fox, he shuddered to think what would happen. He began undoing the buttons with the intention of setting them to rights, but she was flitting to the door, already clothed.
“Good night, Lion.”
Her expression, like her voice, was lamenting.
Bloody hell, his erection had finally begun to subside thanks to their argument, but his dressing gown was gaping open, his cock jutting in the wind. He couldn’t chase after her like this.
“Don’t go,” he bit out.
